TV Horror: Meet The New Monsters of MOCKINGBIRD LANE & HANNIBAL

Casting news broke yesterday regarding MOCKINGBIRD LANE, NBC’s new re-imagining of the classic 60’s show The Munsters with much of the major characters being cast as the loveable yet monstrous family. It looks like Scream 2 & Piranha 3D‘s Jerry O’Connell will be our new Herman Munster, formerly made famous by the late and truly great Fred Gwynne. Grandpa Munster will be played by British comedian Eddie Izzard, with young actor Mason Cook donning Eddie Munsters widows peak and Marian Kleveno portraying the sultry Lily Munster – all respectively originated by Al Lews, Butch Patrick & Yvonne De Carlo. I’m sure a casting announcement for Marilyn Munster should follow shortly.

Described as an “edgier and dark take”, the reboot will focus on the origins of the Munster family and how they came to live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. Bryan Singer (X-Men, producer of Trick ‘R Treat) will helm the pilot episode with shooting underway for an expected 2013 air date.

Below, check out more casting updates from another upcoming show getting the reboot treatment – HANNIBAL!

More genre news from another upcoming NBC reboot, this time centering around the iconic cannibal doctor Hannibal Lecter aptly titled HANNIBAL. Casino Royale & upcoming Thor 2 villain Mads Mikkelsen will don the iconic face mask at some point, portraying Hannibal Lecter. The below synopsis states this is before Lecter became infamously known as “Hannibal the Cannibal”, teaming up with an FBI agent to hunt for serial killers.

Even if this shows turns out to be a colossal mess, the casting of Mads Mikkelsen alone guarantees my butt sitting in front of the TV every week. The lore of Hannibal Lecter has been tirelessly stretched through many films & books so I’m not particularly jumping at the though of seeing more of the sadistic doctor but with brilliant casting such as this, I’ll make an exception. Hard Candy & 30 Days of Night director David Slade will shoot the pilot, making this even more of an exciting outing. Look for this on your TV come 2013.

Synopsis: “In this new drama from Bryan Fuller (“Pushing Daisies,” “Heroes”), based on the characters from Thomas Harris’ classic novels, we see where this incredible story began. Will Graham (Hugh Dancy, “The Big C”) is a gifted criminal profiler who is on the hunt for a serial killer with the FBI. Graham’s unique way of thinking gives him the astonishing ability to empathize with anyone – even psychopaths. He seems to know what makes them tick. But when the mind of the twisted killer he’s pursuing is too complicated for even Will to comprehend, he enlists the help of Dr. Lecter, one of the premier psychiatric minds in the country. Armed with the uncanny expertise of the brilliant doctor, Will and Hannibal (known as a serial killer only to the audience) form a brilliant partnership and it seems there’s no villain they can’t catch. If Will only knew…”